What's ahead for the U.S. economy? On the next Your Call, we'll have a conversation with investigative journalist Danny Schechter, author of Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity and the Sub-prime Scandal. Last week, the Treasury Department called for $700 billion to stabilize volatile financial markets. What's in the plan? Is there any transparency? And who's benefiting? It's Your Call with Rose Aguilar.
Guest: Danny Schechter, a television producer, independent filmmaker, blogger, and media critic.
Click to Listen: What's ahead for our economy?
Thanks for putting on a wonderful show. I'm no financial analyst, but here are my questions:
ReplyDelete1) If only some financial institutions are "bailed out" while others are allowed to fail, how does this plan restore market confidence? It seems like markets would be just as risky, and likely volatile, with this rescue plan in place.
2) Is anyone else surprised by how quickly this plan, with quite radical measures, came to life (as if it had been written well before the crisis)? Is anyone else reminded of September 11th, Hurricane Katrina, and all the other disaster-born policies of this administration (written about by Naomi Klein)?
3) Could the United States somehow leverage the Wall Street crisis to benefit the national budget? What would happen if the government allowed all these banks to fail, capped prices on commodites, and issued zero-interest bonds to "re-finance" our national debt?
Questions from a lay-person. Explanatory statement rather than cynical criticisms would be appreciated. I honestly want to learn.
It seems that Wall Street is all too content to bet other people's money on their assumptions. How about getting some people to bet their life that these bailout plans will work?
ReplyDeleteIf there is a possibility that the economy will still go down, even with this plan in effect, wouldn't it be better to just save $700 billion? Is the Fed in place to be "bold" or frugal?
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